Film and TV Briefing: Friday 5 January 2024
Welcome to this week’s round-up of news, commentary and industry announcements that you may have missed from the past week.
If you are looking for advice in relation to any of the issues mentioned, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
In the news
Mickey & Minnie Mouse from Disney's 1928 short ‘Steamboat Willie’ are now in the public domain (BBC)
MSNBC remains the only major network with consistent year-on-year audience growth (Deadline)
Mickey Mouse horror film trailer released amid copyright expiration (BBC)
'Barbie' to be classified as an adapted screenplay rather than as an original screenplay (Variety)
Lionsgate's acquisition of eOne from Hasbro has been finalised (Deadline)
Prime Video Ads will be introduced from 29 January 2024 (The Guardian)
Russell Brand’s production company posted a £5 million profit in the last tax year (Deadline)
‘The Black Book’ is the first Nigerian film to make No.3 on Netflix's film charts (The Hollywood Reporter)
Universal has overtaken Disney as the highest grossing studio (Variety)
Warner Bros. leads Christmas with 3 top films – ‘The Colour Purple’, ‘Wonka’ and ‘Aquaman' (Indie Wire)
A fourth season of 'Mr. Bean: The Animated Series’ will return in 2025 (Variety)
China's annual box office revenues increased by 83% in 2023 (Variety)
Global Box Office increased by 31% in 2023 (Deadline)
Features and commentary
What were the most-watched shows of 2023? (Deadline)
Nominations for Disney's Board of Directors (Indie Wire)
How did BAFTA introduce climate storytelling at COP28? (Deadline)
Progress for female directors is still slow (The Hollywood Reporter)
2023 box office trends (The Hollywood Reporter)
Could BBC show 'Men Up' encourage men to talk about impotence issues? (BBC)
Key developments in the TV and Film industry in 2023 (Deadline)
Why did TV regress in 2023? (Indie Wire)
TV's most complained about programmes in 2023 (Ofcom)
Industry announcements
The government's Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit is live as of 1 January 2024 (Saffrey)
Resources
2024 awards season calendar (The Hollywood Reporter)
Click here for a list of Pact's upcoming events (Pact)
Click here for Netflix's January 2024 releases (The Hollywood Reporter)
Legal updates
Actor sues Disney alleging that he sustained a permanent injury filming TV show 'Willow' (Deadline)
The Tolkien estate and Amazon win in a ‘Lord of the Rings’ copyright infringement dispute (The Guardian)
Episode of ‘The Live Desk’ found to be in breach of Ofcom's broadcasting due impartiality rules (Ofcom)
'Love is Blind’ contestant Renee Poche sues Producers and Netflix for illegal NDA's (Deadline)
